From the outside, the ballet seems well organized. The ambulances pass through a barrier before speeding, just to their left, into an entrance hall where patients can be treated. Those arriving on foot have well-signposted access. Welcome to the emergency room of the New Civil Hospital (NHC) in Strasbourg.
Every day, the service welcomes around 200 people. As many go to the other large establishment in the Alsatian capital, Hautepierre. For perfectly regulated and efficient emergencies? Not so sure.
The Force Ouvrière (FO) union has been warning for months about a deteriorating situation. At the beginning of December, he reported her to the Strasbourg public prosecutor, Yolande Renzi. He has even gone even further by filing a complaint “with the constitution of a civil party before the dean of the investigating judges at the judicial court” of the city.
“We have not been informed of an investigation opening so we are continuing our procedure,” explains their lawyer, Me Airoldi. “We filed a complaint against X in order to obtain better patient care and better working conditions for caregivers. We want to make things happen. »
Two complaints for suspicious deaths
The council mentions “particularly degraded functioning” within the emergency departments of the University Hospitals of Strasbourg (HUS). “Which makes professionals and patients feel insecure,” insists the FO secretary of the HUS, Christian Prudhomme, recalling the death of a patient in this famous department.
It was in September 2022 and the octogenarian was then discovered lifeless “after spending twenty hours on a stretcher” according to the union. In April of the same year, another suffered the same fate, also after a long wait. Two complaints have been filed and investigations are underway.
What about on site? Have these reports led to changes in care? At the end of December 2023, prefabs were installed in the parking lot. This “Mobile Health Unit” can accommodate up to eight patients in the event of high tension and “allow them to wait for medical treatment”, according to the HUS.
This Tuesday afternoon, she was not on duty. “We are only mobilized when there are too many people inside,” explains 20 minutes one of the paramedics present inside. “It only allowed for faster turnover. Instead of waiting in ambulances, patients wait in these containers. Some stayed in there for up to twenty hours! And again, in stretchers that are not even the same width as in the hospital! », accuses Christian Prudhomme, ensuring that the problems persist. “Sunday evening there were still six ambulances waiting here. Some evenings they could wait up to ten o’clock. »
“Colleagues even stayed one night”
Figures which do not surprise the professionals encountered on site. “Here, yes, we stay more than elsewhere, sometimes four to five hours. Colleagues even stayed one night,” explain two paramedics, recognizing that the Mobile Health Unit has led to an improvement. “I have already been stuck in front of the NHC for three hours,” adds another. “You only see this at NHCs. The salaried paramedics don’t bother them too much, but I’m paid by the trip…”
Contacted by 20 minutes, the University Hospitals of Strasbourg did not respond at the time we published this article. But arrangements are already planned for the NHC emergency room with a first reception room, “where eight patients will be monitored by two nursing assistants” according to FO, not in favor of this new feature. “We cannot continue like this,” concludes Christian Prudhomme.